I am starting to do some research for a new system. The system will be primarily for gaming, but there is a good chance I will be doing some home video editing (probably with Pinnacle Studio software). I know that going with a quad core will probably be better CPU for the video, but would come with any drawbacks for gaming? Would I be better off just going with a good dual core? If I go with a good dual core, how much would that hurt me on the video editing side of things?

Here is what I've been looking at so far:

CPU - E8400 / Q9450 / Q9550
Mobo - Not sure yet, depends on the CPU
Video - nVidia 280 (maybe, been reading some bad things about the heat issues)
Ram - Not sure yet, depends on the rest of the components, more than likely will be DDR2 though

Future games will run better on quads. If I were just building for the next year I would likely go dual core for gaming, any longer or for multi-tasking I would get the Q9550. The Q9550 would not hurt you at all gaming. Speed would be quite similar to the listed E8400... Plenty fast enough for any game.

MB choice should not be CPU dependent. There is no good reason to buy a GTX 280 now though.... ATI is far better bang for the buck.

RAM is not dependent on other parts either... you would want DDR 800Mhz for any of those CPUs.

Thanks for the info...here is what I'm thinking so far:

Intel Q9550 Yorkfield
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115041

VisionTek Radeon HD 4870 512MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814129113

G.Skill DDR2 800 - 4x1GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231098


I'm lost as far as the mobo goes, should I go with a P45 chipset? I think a 750W power supply should be sufficient for what I will have. Only other hardware will be a couple 500GB HDD, soundcard, and a single media drive.

I feel like a noob...haven't really been keeping up with hardware in at least a year thanks to the new job.

You haven't really mentioned budget.

I would guess the ASUS P5Q -E or the P5Q Deluxe would both be good choices. Although they are crossfire boards, it's really the other features they have that make them desirable to you.

If you want to cut corners you could look to less expensive P45 boards or P43 boards.

The Corsair 750TX is an excellent PSU for a good price. PC Power and Cooling also makes a great 610W that would be acceptable.

Or

You could wait a few months and get the entry level Nehalem CPU with the new SSE4 that will greatly speed up encoding time for newer video software. I think the entry level core i7 will be a 2.66Ghz or so and will out perform the Q9550.

But then again, it will cost more money to build one of these, so if you have a budget that won't handle the lastest and greatest. Go with the Q9550.

Does ATI still have more driver issues with the new games than ATI? I know in AOC I constantly see and hear people having major problems with the ATI cards. Didn't know if this was happening in other games as well.

As far as I know ATI drivers have improved. In fact, I have heard just the opposite about AOC. I know that I have seen AOC run really well on ATI, better than nVidia.

The decision to go with ATI over nVidia is not as clear as it was a few weeks ago. Prices are very competitive. I think, however, that the motherboards available still make ATI the better choice.

I am also planning on picking up a new tv around Christmas, between a 40"-46" 1080P. Will the 4870 be able to display games alright on the tv?

Yep.